What an AI-Powered Towerco Looks Like: Insights from South Wireless

Practical insights from industry leaders on using AI to improve operations, reduce manual work, and scale faster 

What if you could build, lease, and manage telecom infrastructure in half the time—without doubling your headcount? 

At this year’s South Wireless Summit, that’s the question our panel set out to explore. Sean Shahini (Founder & CEO, Inorsa) joined Bernard Borghei (CEO, Symphony Wireless), Bill Davison (COO, Harmoni Towers), and Vincent Pirro (Director of Strategic Partnerships, Inorsa) to discuss how AI is transforming not just networks, but the day-to-day operations behind tower and fiber deployments. 

For teams dealing with site acquisition, lease-up, tenant modifications, and M&A due diligence, the promise of “telecom automation” and “AI document processing” is no longer theoretical—it’s becoming operationally necessary. 

Here’s what we learned. 

The Problem: More Work, Less Time, Fewer Resources 

Telecom infrastructure cycles up and down. But resources can’t always follow. As Bill Davison put it, “You can’t staff for the peaks and valleys and expect to have a loyal and sustained workforce.” Instead of constantly hiring and firing, companies need tools that help their current teams scale. 

At Harmoni, that meant revisiting core workflows. “We had one employee take on co-location tasks—and now that’s all they do. They’re barely keeping their head above water,” Bill said. “We had to ask: How can we do things smarter?” 

Symphony’s Bernard Borghei pointed to another constraint: data. “This business isn’t rocket science—but it is extremely data-centric,” he said. “If you don’t have clean, real-time data about your towers, you can’t move fast. You can’t make smart decisions.” 

This isn’t new. As Bernard recalled from his Global Tower Partners days, even back then the focus was reducing emails with early SharePoint workflows. “Now, it’s about injecting intelligence—AI—to make that data usable and actionable.” 

The Fix: Real AI That Solves Real Problems 

For years, AI felt like a buzzword—a line in a vendor deck with no real application. But that’s changing fast. 

“We’re past the hype cycle,” Bill said. “The question now is: What can AI actually do for infrastructure and deployment?” 

The answer, as Sean Shahini explained, starts with fixing the data. “Every tower has years of messy, inconsistent documentation. From leases to CAD drawings, everyone followed their own rules,” he said. “You have to clean that up before you can automate anything.” 

Sean described how Harmoni “snapped a line” in their data systems—creating a structure going forward, while working backward to clean historical records. “It’s resource intensive,” he admitted. “And it’s not glamorous. But it’s foundational.” 

That’s where AI steps in. 

Vincent Pirro, who moderated the session, laid out a clear framework for using AI in telecom ops: 

• Ingest: Read and understand messy, unstructured documents (like leases and drawings), regardless of format. 

• Validate: Automatically flag inconsistencies, missing fields, and mismatches between versions. 

• Generate: Use that clean data to automate repetitive outputs—drawings, reports, checklists—so people can focus on what matters. 

The results are significant. One towerco used Inorsa to generate 90+ drawings in under three hours. Another completed a full M&A diligence process in a single day with one person instead of ten. 

What the Future Looks Like 

Looking ahead, the panelists agreed: AI will be embedded into the daily operations of every successful towerco.  

Bernard emphasized operational automation and platform integration. “With our AI lease abstraction tool, I got results in a day that used to take offshore and onshore teams nine months,” he said. “That’s the future—tools that instantly deliver key lease data, capacity metrics, and compliance flags.” 

Sean pointed to resource planning and data visibility. “In an AI-powered towerco, anyone should be able to ask: ‘How many towers over 130 feet do we have in X region?’—and get an answer instantly,” he said. “It’s not about headcount reduction. It’s about freeing people from repetitive tasks so they can focus on strategy and growth.” 

And Bill summed it up simply: “AI won’t replace your people. But it will replace the part of their job that drains them. And that opens the door for creativity, faster decisions, and better outcomes.” 

The Takeaway: Start Now, Start Small, But Start 

The biggest mistake companies can make? Waiting for a perfect, long-term AI strategy. 

“You don’t need to write a big check and hope for ROI in two years,” Vince explained. “Start with a use case that’s painful but fixable—like document classification or drawing generation. Show value fast. Build confidence from there.” 

In 2025 and beyond, telecom teams won’t just want AI. They’ll expect it. The faster companies move from buzzwords to real-world automation, the better positioned they’ll be to serve their customers—and scale. 

Ready to see what AI document processing can do for your ops team? 
See how Inorsa supports smarter workflows → 

Watch the Full Panel: AI-Powered Solutions for Wireless Construction & Deployment

Want to hear the full conversation from South Wireless Summit?
Watch the complete 43-minute panel featuring:

• Bernard Bouguet – CEO, Symphony Wireless
• Bill Davison – COO, Harmoni Towers
• Sean Shahini – Founder & CEO, Inorsa
• Moderator: Vince Pirro, Director of Strategic Partnerships, Inorsa

In this session, they cover:
✔️ Automating drawing generation and lease reviews
✔️ Real-world AI use cases in tower and fiber ops
✔️ How to avoid wasting money on the wrong AI solutions
✔️ What an AI-powered infrastructure team actually looks like

Watch the video below:

Recommended Reading on AI-Powered Telecom Operations 

Expand your understanding and provide readers with direct links to credible resources by including these articles and case studies: 

The Power of AI in Telecom Operations 

• “What Is AI in Telecoms?”
  A comprehensive overview of AI integration, including digital twins, automation, and operational impact. 

• “Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Telecommunications”
  Diverse use cases such as energy efficiency, network planning, and cybersecurity through smart automation. 

• “How AI Is Dialing Up Efficiency And Value In The Telecom Industry”
  Real-time data analysis for network optimization and rapid problem-solving. 

Document Automation & AI Workflows 

• “Telecommunication Time-Travel: Future-Proofing with AI Document Analysis | Case Study”
  Case study detailing measurable gains in workflow efficiency using AI document processing. 

• “AI for Automated Document Management in Fiber Telecoms”
  Explores AI’s role in accelerating document workflows and reducing manual effort. 

• “Revolutionising Telecommunications: The Power of Automated Document Processing”
  Explains AI’s impact on efficiency, compliance, and productivity in telecom. 

Case Examples of Scale and Efficiency Gains 

• “Granite (Anonymous) | Automation Anywhere”
  Metrics such as a 108x increase in notification efficiency and substantial savings through process automation. 

• “OpenTower iQ: Telecom Tower Digital Twin Solution | Bentley”
  Highlights how AI and digital twins accelerate tower design, inspections, and maintenance. 

• “The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Towers is Real”
  How AI automates operational tasks from lease processing to portfolio growth. 

Industry Perspectives and Future Outlook 

• “AI infrastructure: A new growth avenue for telco operators”
  Value-based models and AI strategies for modern telcos. 

• “End-to-End Automation of Networks Operations – ZTE Case Study”
  Cross-domain AI for efficiency, resource management, and fault resolution at scale. 
• “AI-driven evolution: the Next-Gen of network operations”
  Examples of how AI delivers predictive maintenance, cost savings, and scalability for telecom infrastructure.